Bicycles Stack Exchange
Bicycles Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [suspension]

The specialized system(s) of a bicycle that insulate a rider from rough terrain.

The specialized system(s) of a bicycle that insulate a rider from rough terrain.

Types of suspension:

  • Front suspension
  • Rear suspension
  • Suspension seatpost
  • Suspension saddle

A bicycle with only front suspension is called a hardtail.

A bicycle with no suspension is called rigid.

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Why don't most MTBs have rear shocks?

This keeps me wondering. I normally see front and rear shocks on downhill bikes, but when it comes to touring, road, or mountain bikes, almost every one has only the front shock. What is the reason for this?
Starx
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Why do police bikes have suspension?

This may be a dumb question but why would police bikes have suspension? They mostly all seem to have suspension on the front forks. They're not going to be jumping off rocks or anything, are they, so what's the point? Doesn't suspension just make…
ChrisW
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Is it possible to service Specialized Brain suspension systems at home?

I like to do all my own work on my bike, and with other forks and shocks I've had, I've been able to find the necessary service manuals and specialty tools to overhaul the systems myself at the end of the season. Now I have a Specialized Epic with…
Sean
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What is the risk of bottoming out a fork?

What are the risks of allowing a fork to bottom out, could this cause damage to or worse a catastrophic failure of the fork? I'm wanting to increase my preset sag to around 30% and believe I should be fine with 120mm of travel on relatively tame XC…
DWGKNZ
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Front Fork Or Seat Post Suspension

I live in an area with brick roads. This means it's really bumpy and sometimes with small potholes that hurt when I dip into them. I'm looking to buy a new ebike but I can't afford anything expensive. Should I look for a front Fork suspension, or…
Marls
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What is the twin-link four bar suspension designs trying to solve?

In another answer on suspension spring load calculations, @Criggie provided some examples of different suspension designs, 1) the standard four-bar, and 2) the twin-link four-bar: Clearly there second has a more complicated linkage, but what is…
RoboKaren
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Installing a rigid fork on a commuter MTB

Motivation: This answer says that installing a rigid fork on a frame, designed for a suspension, changes the geometry. Most answers to my question about rusted-out suspension recommend installing rigid suspension for riding in the rain and snow. The…
Vorac
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My bike suspension is very stiff how can I make it looser

My ozone 500 ultra shock mountain bike suspension is very stiff how can I make it looser I've tried oil ,wd-40 ,and other things please help me my bike is so bouncy
Kole Jatzlau
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Should I stick to the fork oil weight specified?

I've got a pair of Rockshox Reba race forks. I'm going to service them. Fork oil weight says 5wt but in the past I have generally used a heavier oil weight 7.5 / 10 wt due to my size. However, saying that, the rebound damping is so effective and…
Andrew Welch
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Air suspension unit for relatively low mass

Let's assume I have an object with a mass of 3 kg. I want this object to isolate from vertical shocks and vibrations when I'm riding approximately 30 km/u on my bike. Let's also assume I have an air suspension front fork modified and mounted on top…
Grote
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Can I swap the lock out on one suspension fork for the remote lock out on another?

Both forks are rockshox. One has lock out, the other has remote lock out. Can I swap them around, and is it easy or are any special tools needed?
Mark W
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Why are my front suspension forks so stiff?

I recently bought a Silverback Stride 29 MD and the forks it came with were the SR Suntour XCE 28. From Day 1 of riding the bike, I noticed that the forks were extremely stiff and I had to exert a lot of energy just to compress the forks. The…
Usman Zaka
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What is the difference between the different oils for a suspension?

I am trying to rebuild a fork and quite confused on what I need for oil and some of the terms for the types of oil. I have seen the following: Suspension oil Damper oil Semi-bath oil Gear oil Motor oil The manuals I am looking only say "oil" or…
Carson Reinke
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What's a good starting setup for Formula Selva R forks?

Formula's Selva R forks have the following settings: Silver (positive) air pressure Bronze (negative) air pressure Rebound damping (21 clicks) Compression damping (12 clicks) Number of "neopos" (0 to 3) CTS valve colour (gold, orange, green,…
Darren Hague
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Suspension pressure

I am 6'2" 185-195 (depending on time of season) and ride a full suspension cannondale scalpel and was wondering how many psi should I have front and back shocks for trail riding? No big drops or jumps really just a standard type of single track.
Brian
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